It is weird to think I was in Christchurch at
the beginning of this week. Time is something I cannot even wrap my mind around
these days!
Well things have gotten a lot busier and more
stressful lately. I’m sorry I’ve been
bad at keeping y’all updated.
Here is a very quick update on life these days.
While we were still in Christchurch, we were
woken up at about 3:30 AM on Monday
by… An earthquake! I am a very deep sleeper, and have slept through many things
including a fire alarm. But I guess when you are sleeping on the top bunk of a
bed that is shaking, you wake up! Haha some girls did sleep through it though.
It was a 4.3 earthquake and then an aftershock in the 3’s a few minutes later,
and another similar aftershock at 6 AM that also woke me up. It was pretty
scary for all of us, but honestly it was kinda cool to experience once – and in
New Zealand.
Tuesday we had to go back to our favorite pizza place
in the container mall before we left. I even got to interview some people that
work at the mall and experienced the big earthquake. It was really neat to
learn about the origin of the mall from an inside perspective, etc. and I did a
blog post on this to turn in. Yes… yes I do schoolwork here.
Once again, we left at 5:45 on Wednesday morning for the airport to fly to Wellington! Travel days are always relaxed and we are all super tired because
of lack of sleep. Next time they do this study abroad they will be getting
later flights when they go between cities haha. That’s what happens when you
are on a ‘guinea pig’ study abroad I guess. There are pros and cons. We got
some Subway, did a little walking around, took naps, grocery store, and settled into our new rooms at the hostel. These HSA rooms are much more spacious which
is very very nice for a bunch of girls who packed way more than they need for
three and a half months. Me included, not trying to get out of that one!
I am very grateful to be surrounded by members
of the church on this trip. I am so grateful that we have scripture and prayer
every night. It makes such a difference for me & I am so glad I have that
and priesthood leaders that lead it. I love that we meet no matter what – even
if we have nowhere to meet. And this night, we met in a hallway right outside
of the elevators. We were reading in Alma and it said something about how they
did not have a place to meet and worship and it just seemed appropriate.
Thursday we had the opportunity to go to an amazing
museum across the street called Te Papa. I am not usually a museum girl so that
is saying something. It had so much in
it and was fascinating & free. There is a Dream Works Animation exhibit
which would have been so awesome to go to, but it cost money and we ran out of
time. First, we went to a World War I exhibit called Gallipoli (the name of
NZ’s first campaign of WWI). It was interesting to hear and learn things from
New Zealand’s perspective because of course that was never something I learned
about when learning about WWI. And it was incredible. It was created by the
Weta Workshop (famous for creating the set and props for LOTR and so many other
movies) and cost 7 or 8 million dollars. They had amazing, greater-than-life
models of soldiers that were ridiculously realistic. They had every hair, every
pore, every wrinkle in their skin, dirt under their nails, every muscle and
vein, even sunburnt ears. It was so real, I thought these very large humans
would start moving. Pictures don’t do it
justice but this is a really neat website with pictures as well as the history
through the exhibit. Worth checking out! http://www.gallipoli.tepapa.govt.nz/
Friday night we went to Cuba Street for some night
markets. There was awesome live music, lots of food booths, a really crazy
bookstore, jewelry booths, and lots of very interesting people. I got a
smoothie that was warm and tasted like yogurt (really good, just unexpected), a
Moroccan wrap that looked amazing but was mediocre, and a banana Nutella crepe
that did not disappoint at all J
Wellington’s
nickname is Windy Wellington. It lives up to its name hahah! We went to
the beach on Saturday for one of the
director’s wife’s birthday, and it was so windy that we only lasted about an
hour. Afterwards, we found some underground markets. We’ve found so many
markets in NZ – I am really going to miss that about here. I got some neat handcrafted
wood jewelry that is so beautiful. Also one guy there was selling maps. Weird, but
I am obsessed with maps now! They were old, vintage maps that were all at least
100 years old. It was so cool! Madie and I are going to go to his real shop to
interview him and get more maps.
I think stake conferences are great. I really
do. But we had yet another one Sunday.
Last week was the regional conference broadcast, and then we had a stake conference in
Auckland. I just think it’s great to have them only twice a year! Haha it was
good though, there were good messages. And we are so lucky to be able to go to
church so easily here. I am grateful for that.
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